Ranking the Patriots’ free agents by their chances of returning

Here’s a look at the New England Patriots’ pending free agents, including Cam Newton, Joe Thuney and others, to see which ones might return.

The New England Patriots are heading toward free agency with a very large amount of salary cap space for the 2021 season.

The NFL hasn’t decided what the salary cap will be league-wide, with the pandemic making financial matters uncertain during the 2020 season. When the league and the NFLPA finalize that cap number, the Patriots will be among the top five teams in salary cap space. New England should have a huge amount of money to use to retain talent — and add new players.

Let’s look at the 2021 class of pending free agents from New England. We’ll dissect which players are most likely (and least likely) to return to the Patriots.